My friend Samantha is an amazing cook. I literally want to gobble everything in sight when we have dinner at her house. After my third daughter was born, she kindly brought a delicious zuppa toscana to our home during my recovery from surgery. Like me, my children gobble everything she makes (even fermented green beans!), so the soup was a hit. We added it to our family’s recipe repertoire, but when we began eating paleo, I altered it to suit our needs. The original version calls for Italian sausage, white potatoes and heavy cream, but we’ve lightened it calorie-wise with ground turkey and coconut milk.

Paleo Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Italian-seasoned ground turkey
• 1 white or yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3-4 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in half and then cut into ¼-inch slices
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 2 cups water (*I vary this amount slightly to accommodate for the size of the sweet potatoes — if it looks like they won’t be covered by the broth/water I have in the pot, I add a bit more*)
• 2 cups kale, chopped into bite-size pieces
• 1 can of coconut milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

In large stockpot, cook ground turkey over medium heat. As it browns, add diced onion and cook another 5 minutes or so until onion is translucent. Add garlic in during the last minute or so.

While the turkey cooks, peel and slice sweet potatoes into small half-moons. Add chicken broth, water, and sweet potatoes to pot, cooking 20-25 minutes until potatoes are softened.

Add kale and canned coconut milk and heat through until kale is bright green. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

*Note: If you don’t have/can’t find Italian-seasoned ground turkey, you can easily substitute regular ground turkey — just add Italian seasoning to make up the difference.*